Rudy Gomez does not seem to be showing any signs of slowing down.

He is at the forefront of a plan to develop a 2Mtpa coal briquette export project in Victoria that has the potential to grow to a 100Mtpa operation employing 5000 people and generating export revenue of $8.5 billion.

To do it though, Gomez said he would need Victorian government funding.

The mining engineer, who holds patents for a range of minerals extraction technologies – including using electrolysis to strip nickel from lateritic ores – has developed a system that turns lignite from Victoria’s Latrobe Valley into briquettes with the same heat output as top thermal coal.

Latrobe Valley lignite has a 60% moisture content and has a heating value of 1970 kilocalories per kilogram.

By the time Gomez’s system is finished with it, that content is down to about 9.9% and the heating value is up to 5600kcal/kg. That 5600kcal/kg puts it on par with top black coal deposits.

At the heart of his company Cartwheel Resources’ system is the Vortex system, which essentially is a large centrifuge.

Prior to going into the Vortex units, the lignite is first crushed to almost talcum powder consistency because it is easier to get water from a smaller particle than from a large one.

It is then put through a microwave circuit to remove some of the water before being sent to the vortex circuit.

The Vortex is where the bulk of the water is removed. Basically the coal goes towards the outside of the Vortex and the water goes to the inside.

Along the way, some of the oxygen and carbon dioxide held in the coal is also liberated – this is what helps boost the coal’s calorific value. At the end of this process Cartwheel is left with a much drier, hotter burning powdered coal.

Gomez points out though that a powder is much harder to ship, which is why the coal will then be briquetted.

These briquettes actually look metallic.

So far Gomez has been putting the system to the test in a facility in Pakenham, Victoria.

Indeed, Cartwheel has been testing and refining its system for the past three years.

The water content and calorific values Gomez touts all have been verified by international assessing firm SGS.

Another benefit of the Cartwheel system is that even if the briquettes break or get doused with seawater on the voyage to market, they will not absorb any moisture.

Gomez, not wanting to give away any trade secrets, would only say that it was due to the way the coal was dried.

The initial plan is to create a 2Mtpa operation.

That will involve buying 4.5Mtpa of lignite from the Loy Yang mine, crushing it and feeding it into a circuit of two vortex machines in series with microwaves.

The resulting product gets briquetted and transported 92km down the Hyland Highway to Port Anthony where it is put onto barges before being loaded onto ships.

Gomez said the company had received interest from Chinese and Malaysian customers.

To make this happen though, the company will need assistance, preferably from the Victorian government.

“We want the first plant to be supported by the government,” he said.

“We’re hoping for help from the Victorian government. It’s the old saying, I want to be first to be second.”

Not that Gomez has been shy about putting up resources for the project.

He said he had already put in $13 million and did not have the resources to put in any more.

Of that, $12 million has gone towards equipment for the plant and $1 million into dredging Port Anthony.

Should that first 2Mtpa plant get going though, it may only be the tip of the iceberg.

Gomez argues that there is the very real possibility of exporting 100Mtpa a year of briquettes out of Victoria.

That level would put the state on a par with its northern neighbours.

Gomez has a history of putting his money where his mouth is.

He famously risked it all to discover the Carapateena copper deposit in SA.

After a couple of major mining partners pulled out, Gomez famously part-funded a drilling campaign himself – he received a $100,000 grant through the SA government’s Plan for Accelerating Exploration, or PACE for short.

He knew the copper was there, just that it was deep.

That campaign intersected good copper intervals and the rest is history.